[ExI] Nice Article on Brain Preservation

[Anders Sandberg]

On 16/09/2012 16:24, John Clark wrote:
> To my mind the superior procedure is whichever one preserves the most 
> information. I note that when scientists try to find the connectome of 
> the human brain they slice up a plastic embedded brain into 
> extraordinarily thin strips and then photograph them at a microscopic 
> level; the interesting thing is that they use a plastic embedded brain 
> not a frozen brain.

This is mostly a matter of convenience, not a deeply considered choice. 
Since cell membranes are well preserved by standard histological 
methods, why even investigate frozen tissue as an option?


I like fixation for its ability to function regardless of a support 
infrastructure. However, I suspect I would still prefer to have my brain 
stored in a dedicated institution trying to protect it than to trust the 
overall environment out there.

Max's point about revival options is important: we do not just want to 
minimize damage during preservation, we also want to make the resulting 
product amenable to as many possible future revival technologies as 
possible.

-- 
Anders Sandberg,
Future of Humanity Institute
Philosophy Faculty of Oxford University